


Dehydration and Friendship

by supercasey



Series: HLVRAI Fics [1]
Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Black Mesa Sweet Voice, Dehydration, Eldritch Benrey, Eldritch G-Man (Implied), Eldritch tommy, Fluff, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Male Bonding, Starvation, Supernatural Elements, Superpowers, Survival, Team Bonding, Team as Family, Trans rights, i dunno i just love tommy and also the science team, midnight adventures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25417876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supercasey/pseuds/supercasey
Summary: For the last few days, Gordon Freeman has felt as if he's been herding cats through the remains of Black Mesa, having to wrestle with Dr. Coomer's erratic behavior, Bubby's arsonist tendencies, and Benrey's… _everything._ The _last_ person he thought he had to worry about was sweet, naive Tommy, but as he'll soon learn, Tommy is hiding something from him, and something big. Luckily for him, Benrey feels like being nice for once.
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman, Bubby/Dr. Coomer (Half-Life)
Series: HLVRAI Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1841029
Comments: 16
Kudos: 194





	Dehydration and Friendship

**Author's Note:**

> I know I literally just said I was struggling to write, but something about HLVRAI possessed my depressed ass to write this nonsense. I thought my favorite character would end up being Benrey, and while I certainly do love him, Tommy and Gordon are definitely my favorites (emphasis on Tommy)! So yeah, here’s Tommy low-key being an Eldritch demigod, Gordon being the dad friend, and Benrey having a heart (and a crush on Gordon)!
> 
> ((Btw, I used ze/zir pronouns for Bubby; I’m not agender, so I dunno if that was the right call, so feel free to let me know if this was good. If not, I’ll try something else if I write another fic with Bubby in it.))

“Did ya find anymore soda, Mr. Freeman?” Tommy asks, nearly slipping in a pool of alien blood in his rush to run into the newly discovered break-room, his tone desperate yet excited.

Gordon reaches out to stop Tommy, just barely catching the man by his forearm. A good thing too, since Tommy was just a few seconds away from slipping and going ass over applecart. “Easy there, buddy. There’s no need to run now that the aliens are dead.” Gordon explains in a calm voice, all while giving Tommy a sympathetic smile.

Tommy visibly grimaces, none too fond of the way Gordon babies him, but he ultimately doesn’t say anything on the matter, still too excited about soda to let the other man kill his whistle. “So? Any soda?” He repeats his question from earlier, trying to look over Gordon’s shoulder so he can get a look at the soda machine nearby.

Gordon sighs, shaking his head in defeat. “Nope. Sorry Tommy, it looks like this one was raided way before we got here,” He says, tempted to point out that if the team would stop chugging all the soda the minute they found it, they’d have more, but for Tommy’s sake, he decides not to. “But don’t worry, there should be more on the way to the Lambda labs!”

“Indeed!” Dr. Coomer chimes in, practically bouncing over to stand with them, but to Gordon’s horror, the older doctor isn’t anymore careful than Tommy, and ends up face-planting on the blood slick floor on his way over. _ “Ouch!  _ It seems I’ve fallen,” He says, but oddly enough his voice doesn’t hold any real pain. The scientist quickly composes himself, standing up while wearing a broad grin, as if he didn’t just slip and smear blood all over himself. “As I was saying, Gordon, I could spawn a fully stocked soda machine for you, but it would cost you two Playcoins(™)!”

Gordon smiles at first, but it quickly disappears when he hears the price. “Uh… I think I’ve only got one left,” He smiles sheepishly at Tommy, praying that the other man won’t get angry with him over this. “Sorry, buddy… looks like we’re gonna have to wait after all.”

“Maybe if you didn’t waste all your Playcoins(™) on easy puzzles, we wouldn’t be in this fucking mess,” Bubby teases from across the break-room, smirking devilishly when Gordon glares at zir in response. “What? I’m right and you know it.”

“Get fucking  _ owned!” _ Benrey adds, the security guard watching all of this go down from his seat on top of a ginormous stack of crates in the far corner of the room. How he got up there, Gordon has no idea, and honestly he doesn’t feel the need to know, not when everything else is so much more concerning.

Pushing the thought aside, Gordon sighs, grumbling something under his breath that the rest of his team can’t quite make out, but it certainly doesn’t sound like a compliment. “Just shut up, you guys,” He orders, shaking his head as he makes for the doorway. Dr. Coomer, Bubby, and Benrey are all rather quick to follow him, but to the leader’s confusion, Tommy stays standing by the broken vending machine in the break-room, his eyes transfixed on the machinery. “Um… Tommy?” Gordon asks, concerned for the other man’s well-being. “You doin’ alright, bud? You look kinda spaced out.”

Tommy stays like that a moment longer, and if Gordon didn’t know any better, he’d think that just for a few seconds, the other scientist’s eyes glowed a light yellow. The minute he registures that he saw it, Tommy blinks, and just like that the man’s fine again, if not a bit frazzled looking still. “Uh… what did ya say, Mr. Freeman?” Tommy asks after a few seconds, giving Gordon such a weirded out look, as if  _ he’s  _ the one acting out of character.

Gordon doesn’t let it bother him, chalking up the other man’s odd behavior to him being dehydrated and tired. “I asked if you were okay, buddy,” Gordon explains, stepping closer to look Tommy over, half scared that his companion might fall over if left unattended. “You’re looking pretty out of it, man. Do you need us to stop for a lil’ bit?”

“I want to go  _ home, _ Gordon!” Bubby shouts from the next room over, causing both Gordon and Tommy to jump in surprise.

“You’re a test tube baby, you don’t  _ have  _ a home,” Benrey points out, and to Gordon’s secret relief, the security guard takes to teasing someone other than him for once. “What’s wrong, tube baby? Do you need your security goo?”

“Shut the fuck up.” Bubby growls, flashing zir sharpened teeth at the other survivor. Benrey bares his own teeth in turn, letting out a loose cackle when Bubby’s face flushes a light scarlet, aware that ze's outclassed.

Gordon is tempted to let the two of them go at it, if only so they can work off some of their excess anger on each other, but he doesn’t need Bubby getting injured when he doesn’t know of any medical stations nearby. “Alright guys, let’s just settle down,” He suggests, stepping out of the break-room and between his arguing teammates, hoping all the while that they won’t shred him to get at each other. “There’s no need to beat each other up, okay? Let’s get through a few more rooms and we’ll rest for the night, alright? We’re all freaking exhausted.”

Bubby and Benrey glare at each other for a little while longer, but eventually it’s the former who backs down, but not without clicking zir tongue out of anger. “Fine,” Bubby mutters, all but pouting as ze looks away from everyone and crosses zir arms with a huff. “But I  _ still  _ want to go home!”

“I know, Bubby. We all do,” Gordon assures, letting out a sigh of relief as the argument is put to an end, glad that he won’t have to get physical with anyone. With that settled, they all begin moving away from the break-room again, but for the second time, Gordon has to stop and glance back at Tommy, who isn’t zoned out again, thank god, but he still seems…  _ pensive. _ “Tommy? You comin’, buddy?”

Tommy nods absentmindedly, subconsciously grabbing fistfuls of his own lab coat and tugging on it, something that Gordon suspects is a nervous habit of some kind, or a weak attempt at stimming. “Y-Yeah, I’m coming, Mr. Freeman!” Tommy shouts over his shoulder, glancing almost frantically between the soda stains on the floor- oh god,  _ please  _ don’t try to lick it- and Gordon’s face. In the end, he follows after his teammates, but not without wearing a disappointed frown on his face to show just how sad he is.

The group of five continues on their journey through Black Mesa with a loud conversation between them all, surprisingly enough not running into anymore aliens or soldiers for the first time in quite a few hours. With little action or arguing to bother him, Gordon finds his mind wandering, the man’s brain a never ending tirade of worries and fears, most of which are currently fixated on how the hell he plans on getting home. Even if he gets out of Black Mesa alive- and that’s a big if, considering how fucked up this escape has been so far- with the United States military apparently against him and all his coworkers, that means he probably can’t return to living a quiet, suburban life, can he?

What will happen to Joshua? Gordon dropped him off at his grandparents’ house the morning before work, so at least Josh is with his family, but nonetheless the physics major can’t help but be nervous, scared at the thought of some government agent going to his mom and dad’s house and taking his little boy away from them. Would the army kill Josh just to spit him? Would they put him into foster care? Gordon shakes his head in earnest, trying to dispel the worrisome thoughts from his mind. No, he won’t let anything bad happen to his baby. When he gets out of here, he’ll go to his parents’ place, grab Josh, and go on the run. He’d bring Ma and Pa, but they need their medications, and he can’t provide those to them while on the run, especially when he’ll already be caring for himself and a toddler.

Speaking of children- well, at least in Gordon’s eyes- Tommy has been dead silent since the lot of them left the break-room, letting everyone else dominate the conversation while he just listens in silence. Oh sure, Gordon’s pretty accustomed to the younger man’s tendency to keep quiet for long periods of time- Joshua has a hard time talking, too- but something about this silence feels  _ off  _ to him, as if Tommy is hiding something important. The other man keeps fidgeting as he walks, eyes scanning every room the team goes into like a feral creature of some kind, hungry and desperate for nourishment.  _ That’s what you get for only drinking soda all the time, _ Gordon thinks, but he doesn’t let himself scold the scientist too harshly, even in his brain. After all, the group has found very little food throughout their journey, having to eat it the minute they find it, so it’s not like they can stockpile anything for later on down the line.

Oh well, at least they’ll be stopping pretty soon to rest. Ironically enough, the minute that thought crosses Gordon’s mind, the team happens upon a small room off to the side of the hallway they’ve been following. Dr. Coomer runs in with Bubby right away, and after a short series of gunshots and what sounds like someone punching a turret, they beckon the others inside. Smiling, Gordon goes in next with Benrey, Tommy following close behind them. As Gordon hoped, this room is out of the way enough that they shouldn’t be bothered, plus there’s enough room for everyone to have some space to themselves to sleep and catch their breath.

“This looks like a good place to stop,” Gordon says, turning to face his teammates and smile at them. “Feel free to kick back, guys; we’re sleeping here tonight!”

“Ugh,” Bubby groans, flopping down on zir back and glaring at the ceiling. “The lights in here are too damn bright!”

“I’ve got it, bro.” Benrey offers, pulling out his gun without a second thought.

“Wait, do-” Gordon tries to stop him, but it’s too late.

Within seconds, Benrey has shot all of the fluorescent lights in the room, the sound of shattering glass eliciting a short series of shouts from the scientists in his company. “Dammit, Benrey! Now look at what you’ve done; no one can see jack shit in here!” Gordon curses, blinking rapidly in a weak attempt at adjusting his vision to the newfound darkness, but he knows it’ll be awhile before he can see again. “What’re we gonna do  _ now, _ huh!?”

“Rave time.” Benrey says in complete monotone, and before Gordon can ask what he means by that, the security guard begins using his Sweet Voice, round clouds of bright blue illuminating the room.

“Of course you’d do this,” Gordon mutters, rolling his eyes at Benrey’s attempt at  _ ‘fixing’  _ the situation. “Are you seriously gonna stand there and sing until morning?”

“Naw, so use the light while ya can, bitch boy.” Benrey says, and Gordon  _ swears  _ he can hear laughter in the other man’s voice, speckles of yellow joining the blue, turning them a light green when the different colored bubbles collide.

Gordon doesn’t bother responding to that. Instead, he looks around the room for anything that would make for decent bedding, not really expecting to find much. Much to his surprise though, the test subject soon happens across a closet full of blankets, pillows, and even a few sleeping bags. He passes them out without a word, having to look away in order to hide his smile when he sees Bubby and Dr. Coomer push their sleeping bags together, opting to lie on top of them and share a few blankets instead of sleeping alone. As expected, Benrey doesn’t want anything that Gordon offers him, deciding to just lounge in an office chair and watch over everyone else from the corner of the room.

Benrey’s refusal to sleep used to really bother Gordon, especially when he realized that he watches the science team all night, but hey, at least that means someone’s keeping guard, right? Better than having to sleep in shifts and arguing about it. With the others taken care of, Gordon goes to Tommy next to let him pick out a sleeping bag- he figures it’ll be the yellow one- but as he steps towards the younger man, he pauses, enamored by the state his companion is in. Tommy is sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring listlessly at the wall, and although Gordon is inclined to think all the colorful orbs in the air are Benrey’s doing, he thinks he sees small, white balls escaping Tommy’s mouth, but they disappear as quickly as they come, and at a much faster pace than Benrey’s Sweet Voice.

“Hey there, Tommy,” Gordon greets, approaching Tommy from behind with the sleeping supplies still in his arms. “Whatcha up to over here? Have ya found a good place to sleep yet?”

Tommy flinches violently at the sound of Gordon’s voice, managing to slam his forehead into the wall in front of him. “Ow!” He yelps, quick to begin rubbing the bruise as he looks over his shoulder and gives Gordon a rare glare. “Th-The heck was  _ that  _ for, Mr. Freeman!?” He asks, sounding almost offended by Gordon’s intrusion.

Gordon backs off a few steps without meaning to, something about Tommy making him uneasy out of seemingly nowhere. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare ya,” He says, expression worried as he looks the other scientist over, trying to figure out what’s wrong with him. “I just, uh… you want a sleeping bag? Plus some other stuff? I, uh, found some in a closet…”

Tommy looks ready to say something- maybe ask Gordon what he saw before he interrupted his mental tirade- but he must not want to deal with it, as he soon pastes on a somewhat fake grin, trying to regain his composure. “Oh, th-thanks Mr. Freeman! Yeah, I’d love s-something to sleep on!” Tommy finally stands up and faces Gordon, his smile widening as he steps over and takes the yellow sleeping bag alongside a blanket and pillow from him. “Thanks again, Mr. Freeman!” He says, giving Gordon a quick hug before he walks off with his new sleeping gear.

Gordon watches him go, and again, he can see the faintest trace of white spilling out of Tommy’s mouth, but now he’s trying much harder to keep it inside, biting his bottom lip to keep the clouds contained. Gordon wants to ask Tommy about it, maybe help him out if he can, but… he obviously hates when the physics major babies him, so that might not be a good call. If it gets anymore serious, he’ll definitely step in, but for now, Gordon just hopes that Tommy will reach out to him if something is wrong. As he lays down for the night, shoving his face into a pillow to try and make himself fall asleep faster, he doesn’t notice Benrey’s eyes on his back, the security guard watching him from afar, eyes pensive and unblinking.

* * *

“Get up.”

Gordon snaps awake almost right away, his body having gotten used to waking up at a moment's notice over the last few days. But instead of finding an alien trying to gnaw on his face, or even little Joshua at the end of his bed at home trying to rouse his daddy, the man looks up and sees Benrey, the anomaly of a man damn near scaring him half to death since he looks like some kind of humanoid monster in the darkness of the room.

“Get up,” Benrey repeats, not even kneeling to be at Gordon’s level, just continuing to stare at him, unblinking and cold. “We gotta go.”

“What’s goin’ on?” Gordon asks, not quite getting up yet. He sits up with a barely suppressed yawn, and although he doesn’t have access to any clocks, he doubts he’s gotten very much sleep since he laid down.

“We gotta go,” Benrey insists, and damn, he  _ really  _ likes repeating stuff today, doesn’t he? Something must be bothering him. “Now get up, man.”

“Alright alright, I’m up,” Gordon assures, scrambling to his feet in a tired haze. He yawns once he’s on his feet, eyes scanning the room, but to his shock, everyone else is still asleep. “Hey, what gives? Why am  _ I  _ the only one being woken up?” He’s half convinced by now that Benrey is just trying to mess with him again, but he needs to be sure before hitting him with his pillow and going back to bed.

Benrey huffs, and if Gordon’s eyes were better adjusted to the dark, he assumes the other man would be rolling his eyes at him right now. “‘Cus you gotta go on a mission,” Benrey explains, motioning towards the door. “Come on, we gotta go get something.”

Gordon wants to argue, desperate to get some more sleep, but… something seems wrong here, even if Benrey being an asshole isn’t the least bit out of character for him. “Alright sure, let’s go somewhere. What exactly are we going to get, man? Will the guys be alright if we leave ‘em here by themselves?” He asks this while already making his way for the door, sluggish and still pretty damn fatigued.

“Just come on,” Benrey orders, beginning to lead the way once they’re out of the safe-room. “And they’ll be fine, since they’re not targets.” He adds, closing and locking the door on his way out, if only to make his partner less anxious, which honestly surprises Gordon.

“The heck does that even  _ mean?” _ Gordon questions, which only earns him a blanket stare in response. “Fuck it, forget I asked. But seriously, where are we _ going? _ Can’t this wait until later?”

“No.” Benrey says, suddenly grabbing Gordon’s hand to drag him elsewhere.

Again, Gordon is all too tempted to put his foot down and argue until morning over what he thinks is utter bullshit, but Benrey is acting really,  _ really  _ weird tonight, and he needs to know why, if only so he won’t get blindsided by anything weird later, and also because he’s just plain curious; the woes of being a scientist. For awhile, Benrey leads Gordon on in complete silence, practically dragging the other man through Black Mesa, taking different turns than the de facto leader of the team never would, as they look like they should be swarming with aliens. But again, Gordon is thrown for a loop tonight when no such creatures come for him and Benrey, as if they’ve all already been killed or scared off. What on earth is going on here?

Before Gordon can really stop Benrey and grill him on the situation, the security guard abruptly stops mid-stride, causing his accomplice to slam right into him. As usual, Benrey is undeterred by all things physical, not even blinking as he turns towards what looks like a locked door. He messes with the lock for a few seconds, before ultimately he just rips it off- again, he hardly seems affected by what he’s doing- and drops it on the floor, stepping over the broken object to walk through the now open doorway. As Benrey still has a hold on his hand, Gordon is forced to stumble after him, eyes widening behind his glasses when he finds himself in a large break-room. And if that weren’t amazing enough, there are a few huge, pristine soda machines lining the walls.

“Whoa… how’d you even  _ find  _ this place?” Gordon asks, in absolute awe of what his teammate has discovered.

“I looked around… fuckin’ idiot,” Benrey says, giving away no secrets. He let’s go of Gordon’s hand and approaches one of the soda machines, and without a word, he rips the front of it open, revealing the many soda cans inside. “Come and grab some; we need to get as many as we can.”

Gordon nods, ready to step forward and help, when he pauses, the strangeness of all of this not lost on him. “Hold on a minute, man… why are you  _ doing  _ this? Why did you bring me here?” Because this is very,  _ very  _ odd of Benrey to do, and despite wanting to believe that the security guard isn’t as bad as he makes himself out to be, Gordon isn’t naive enough to blindly trust the guy he still thinks got him into this mess.

Benrey stops, turning and leveling a look at Gordon, and for a moment, the physics major wonders if Benrey will kill him over this. It seems he won’t, as with what sounds like a sigh-  _ maybe? _ Genuinely sighing seems alien for a guy like Benrey- the security guard gives a weak nod, as if agreeing to answer some silent command Gordon has given him. “Alright alright, fine… ya got me. Tommy  _ needs  _ this soda, okay?”

Gordon blinks, perturbed by that answer. He doesn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t that. “I’m sorry, but  _ what?” _

“Tommy,” Benrey repeats, less apprehensive this time around. “He needs soda to be okay. If he doesn’t get it, he’ll…” The man trails off, looking away from his partner, and if he didn’t know better, Gordon would think he sounds nervous. “Let’s just say it won’t be an epic gamer moment. Not for us, anyway, and  _ definitely  _ not Tommy; he doesn’t exactly like going sicko mode.”

Gordon grimaces, that uneasiness when approaching Tommy earlier resurfacing, like the feeling a rabbit must get when they sense a predator approaching. “Why soda of all thing?” He asks, because it just seems like a good question, despite the fact that there are far better ones to be asking right now, but hell, he has to start  _ somewhere. _

That actually gets Benrey to shrug, and despite it all, the movement makes Gordon feel a bit better, as that seems very Benrey-like to him. “He likes it,” Benrey states, again not giving much away. “Plus, ya know, it’s good fuel… makes ya see faster.”

“Yeah, soda isn’t supposed to do that.” Gordon says, still a bit weirded out that Tommy said that a few days ago, as it just seemed  _ off,  _ much like his behavior has been lately.

“Not for humans,” Benrey mutters, so quiet that Gordon almost doesn’t hear him. “Now come on, let’s get this shit and go.” He orders, turning back to the machine to collect as many cans as he can fit in his arms.

Gordon doesn’t even feel like arguing about this anymore, nor asking questions. Instead, he silently follows Benrey’s lead, trying to grab armloads of soda, but with neither of them having a backpack, he knows it’ll be a rough walk back to the safe-room. He scans the break-room, looking for anything that might help, until his eyes land on a large, plastic bin under a nearby table. He grabs it right away, emptying it of the cleaning supplies that had been inside- he stuffs the wet wipes into a pocket on his HIV suit, figuring he could use them to clean off his teammates if they get bloodied up again- before carrying it back towards the machines. Benrey turns to look at Gordon, confused at first, but when he sees the empty bin, he smirks, piling the cans into it instead of just carrying them.

Without a word, the two men fill up the plastic bin with as much soda as they can, Benrey finding another one in the break-room to carry even more of the drinks. In the end, they end up rounding up well over sixty cans of soda, alongside a cabinet’s worth of food that they found while rummaging around in the room. Honestly, it’s a good thing this place was locked up before they got here, or it would’ve been raided within the first few days of the disaster. Once they have everything packed away, Gordon and Benrey each pick up a bin of supplies, the former struggling a bit with the weight of his, but he tries not to say anything for fear of being teased by his partner in crime; after all, Benrey’s still Benrey. Soon after, they leave the break-room together, going back the way they came to get back to the safe-room.

It doesn’t take long for Gordon to say something. “Hey, um… thanks for doing this, man,” He says, and although he hasn’t seen any aliens yet, he still keeps his voice down. “I think it’s really nice that you’d do something like this, especially for Tommy.”

“Well, otherwise I’d have to take a major L, and I don’t wanna do that,  _ so…” _ Benrey trails off, and again, Gordon thinks he looks uncomfortable, but he laughs it off in no time, having little tolerance for showing any sort of weakness, especially in front of him. “Just don’t mention this to anybody, okay? If you do, I’ll have to rip ya apart, and I don’t wanna do that. Not because you’re epic or anything, but because I just don’t want to… ‘sides, you  _ really  _ don’t want me to kill ya, man; it would be the worst way to go ever.”

Despite himself, Gordon shivers. “I won’t tell anybody about this, dude,” He promises, mostly because he doubts anyone would believe him, much less tease Benrey for being kind. “Just… thanks again, Benrey. It means a lot to me.”

Benrey chuckles again, the smallest of smirks on his blueish face. “Whatever.” He says, but Gordon can tell he’s happy, as tints of yellow fill the inside of his mouth.

Once they get back to the safe-room, Gordon unlocks the door and goes in first, half scared that the team will be awake, or worse, gone. To his relief, everyone is still fast asleep and accounted for. Bubby and Dr. Coomer are still asleep on top of their sleeping bags, the former sprawled out over zir significant other and snoring up a storm, all while Dr. Coomer has an arm slung across zir back, a small smile on his slumbering face. Then there’s Tommy, who’s hunkered down in one of the corners of the room, curled into a ball as he lies in a restless sleep. Despite having a few blankets on him, and being encased in a sleeping bag, Tommy still shivers like mad, as if he’s been overcome by some invisible chill.

Gordon draws a bit closer to Tommy, tiptoeing so that he doesn’t disturb the younger man, and with the trained practice of having to check the temperature of a toddler that’s a very light sleeper, he lays a hand on Tommy’s forehead, pressing a button on the wrist of his HIV suit to get a reading. Gordon’s eyes widen as he reads Tommy’s body temperature, which is only forty-three degrees Fahrenheit; the same temperature as the room they’re in. What the  _ hell? _ He was expecting the kid to be burning up with a fever, not freezing to death! As Gordon moves to crouch- he intends on trying again, in-case his HIV suit is malfunctioning- Tommy let’s out a short groan, and with unnatural speed, he sits up, whipping his head to the side to stare at Gordon with wide, glowing yellow eyes.

Gordon shivers, unnerved and speechless.

Tommy blinks a few times, but the glowing doesn’t stop. “Uh… h-hi, Mr. Freeman,” He greets, but his voice isn’t as bubbly and sweet as it usually is, the man too exhausted to act as anything other than miserable. “Um, wh-what’s going on? Is it t-time to get up now?”

Benrey steps in, shaking his head at Tommy. “Naw, man. We gotcha something,” He says, holding out a can of Sunkist to the scientist. “Here ya go, buddy; your fav.”

Tommy’s eyes widen to the size of saucers, his mouth twinging with white and a dash of newfound yellow. “R-Really? For  _ me?” _ He asks, astonished by the gift.

“Yep,” Gordon says, finally breaking out of his stupor. “Go on, Tommy… drink up!”

Tommy grins outright, snatching the can from Benrey at the speed of light, and without waiting, he bites into the can itself, sending a short spray of orange soda out as he sucks on the can like a starving vampire. In that moment, Gordon catches a glimpse at the other man’s teeth, and to his surprise, they’re sharp like Bubby’s and Benrey’s are. That’s strange, were they always like that? Gordon feels like he would’ve noticed something like that by now, especially because he knows for a fact that Dr. Coomer and him don’t have any unnaturally sharpened teeth. Does that mean… is Tommy like Benrey and Bubby? Gordon knows that Bubby and Benrey are two very different kinds of paranormal- Bubby’s a test tube experiment and Benrey’s is… well,  _ Benrey- _ but Tommy’s never acted like either of them.

Hell, if Gordon is honest with himself, he thinks that he and Tommy are the most sane people within the science team, seeing as Bubby argues and starts fires like it’s just a thing you do in your spare time, Benrey plays by his own rules, and Dr. Coomer is just plain nonsensical, even at the best of times. But Tommy? He’s a good kid, if a bit too naive for his own good. Could he be more than he seems, though? Gordon doesn’t want to believe it, wants to keep pretending that he isn’t alone in this hellscape, but he’s a man of science, and he can’t ignore the facts. Tommy is…  _ something. _ Whether he’s a Bubby-something or a Benrey-something is yet to be decided, but despite the evidence thus far, Gordon really,  _ really  _ hopes he’s neither.

The sound of Tommy sucking on a now empty can snaps Gordon out of it, the metal on teeth sound making him cringe. Apparently it’s enough to wake the others up too, as Bubby sits up on zir significant other and groans, glaring daggers at the people who are awake. “The fuck are you idiots doing?” Ze asks, all but snarling at the other survivors.

“Hello, Gordon!” Dr. Coomer greets in a very-awake tone of voice, all while patting Bubby’s back, which is enough to at least stop the snarling. “Gordon, I’m tired. And _ thirsty!”  _ The doctor states, sitting up a little and smiling at Gordon, which widens when he sees the can in Tommy’s hands. “Soda! Is there  _ more, _ Gordon?”

“Yeah, Dr. Coomer,” Gordon says, unable to keep from smiling as well; Dr. Coomer just has a way of making him feel better, even when he feels like utter shit. “We even got some food, too!”

“Really?  _ Food? _ I call dibs on anything sweet!” Bubby shouts, scrambling to get off of Dr. Coomer and look around, scowling when ze can’t find the food right away. “What gives? I was promised  _ food, _ Gordon!”

“Hold your horses, man,” Gordon urges, chuckling as he returns to the hallway and drags in the two containers, quick to shut the door once he’s inside. “Here ya go, guys; eat and drink up!”

Immediately, Dr. Coomer and Bubby descend on the containers like a pack of feral dogs, grabbing whatever they can get their grubby hands on and running back to their bed, where they eat together with just as much ravenous gluttony as they showed moments earlier. Tommy seems almost hesitant at first, and although most of the white from his mouth has gone away by now, it still lingers, suggesting he needs more nutrition. With Dr. Coomer and Bubby handled, Gordon takes it upon himself to grab a few more sodas for Tommy, as well as a sleeve of crackers and a jar of peanut butter. He hands over all but two of the drinks to Tommy, saying the food and two coca colas for himself.

Benrey watches him the entire time, unblinking, and still riding the high of the security guard having been nice to him tonight, Gordon offers him a slight smile, patting the ground between him and Tommy. Benrey hesitates, looking both uncomfortable and eager, but in the end he gives in, the man plopping down beside Gordon and sitting cross-legged like he is. Biting back on the urge to chuckle at his teammate, Gordon pops the tab on one of his sodas, passing it over to Benrey. This earns him another befuddled look, Benrey grimacing when he smells it, until very nervously, he dabs at the liquid with his tongue, scrunching up his nose almost immediately. This time Gordon can’t help but laugh, much to Benrey’s embarrassment.

“Shut the fuck up,” Benrey orders, still cringing. “It’s not my fault this shit is spicy.”

“SPICY!?” Tommy, Bubby, and Gordon all shout at the same time, the three of them howling with laughter at the admission.

Benrey blushes dark blue, looking away as he becomes the butt of everyone’s joke, but secretly he’s overjoyed, butterflies fluttering in his stomach at the sound of Gordon’s adorable laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as Tommy-centric, but then I descended into Frenrey hell. I didn’t even ship them after I first watched the series, but… I dunno, it became more and more natural as I wrote this. If I write another HLVRAI fic, I hope it’ll be more focused on Tommy, but I’m happy with how this one turned out! Please comment if you liked this, it would really make my day! Okay, time to infodump:
> 
> 1\. Someone on Tumblr made a post that basically says what each of the Sweet Voice colors mean, so I tried to use that as a reference. Shout out to projectsuvi on Tumblr! (Btw, blue means calming and yellow means happy!)
> 
> 2\. The whole “white” Sweet Voice is something I pulled outta my ass, but I define it as being hungry, drained, tired, or sick. It’s basically the Sweet Voice user’s way of saying they need help/energy. If I do another fic, I might touch into my interpretation of black Sweet Voice, which is basically just “I’m having a mental breakdown.”
> 
> 3\. I like to think that Tommy can use Sweet Voice, but he rarely uses it because he’s afraid of people finding out that he can. I dunno, I just like the idea that he doesn’t want people to know that he has powers like Gman’s, if only so he can protect himself.
> 
> 4\. I headcanon that Tommy’s mom is human and that Gman is some kind of Eldritch horror like Benrey. I kinda wanna write a fic about Tommy’s origins someday, but I dunno, I’ll see how this fic is received and decide from there.


End file.
